Time Warner Cable gave $70G in airtime during Cuomo push for bill

Updated 7:14 am, Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The communications giant aired ads produced by the Human Rights Campaign as part of its "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" series during March and May, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed for same-sex marriage in a statewide tour.

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"Join us in ending this outdated policy; come to the table for marriage equality," celebrity chef Mario Batali says in one video.

But initially, Time Warner considered the ads to be public service announcements, according to Susan Leepson, a regional vice president for communications at the company.

"Then, with the upcoming vote, we took a hard look and realized that HRC decided to declare them as lobbying," she explained.

Time Warner Cable has "not taken any position on that issue," Leepson said, and both she and spokesman Bobby Amirshahi suggested they were classified as public service announcements by mistake. PSAs are run free of charge by broadcast networks and promote a variety of non-controversial social causes such as child abuse prevention.

Leepson and Amirshahi also said TWC initially sought money from HRC to cover the fair market value of the airtime, but HRC was disinclined to pay.

"One option was for HRC to pay Time Warner for the airtime. The second option was that both organizations report their respective cost," said Kevin Nix, an HRC spokesman. "HRC and Time Warner agreed to the second, and both have reported their associated costs as lobbying expenses. We greatly appreciate our partnership with Time Warner and look forward to working with them again in the future."

Added Leepson: "We enjoy a great partnership with HRC."

In addition to its role as a cable company servicing New York City and most of upstate New York (rival Cablevision dominates the market on Long Island), Time Warner in recent years has nurtured a robust news division, with 24-hour dedicated news channels YNN and NY1. Both covered the campaign for same-sex marriage extensively.

It's unclear exactly how much airtime was in play, but PSAs generally don't run in prime ad slots. Amirshahi said the HRC ads ran on NY1 and CNN in the New York City market.

Advocates of same-sex marriage spent $1.37 million on airtime in May and June, ahead of the June 24 state Senate vote that approved same-sex marriage, according to disclosure reports filed with the Commission on Public Integrity. The money was spent by New Yorkers United for Marriage, an umbrella coalition of several established gay-rights groups including HRC.

The lobbying records show the National Organization for Marriage, which opposed that bill, spent $300,000 to air its own TV campaign (plus $203,762 for radio ads), including a sizable chunk to Time Warner.

The company received negative feedback for their decision to air NOM's ads, which insinuated that if same-sex marriage was legalized, it would lead to curricular changes in public schools. Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, an openly gay Democrat from Manhattan, wrote a formal complaint to NY1's managers, and one gay activist called for a boycott of the company.